Life is Beautiful

Photography Gyan # 4

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

I hope by now, you got a bit familiar with what I was attempting to tell in previous gyan about Aperture! And did you all had enough time to try them out. Now give me honest answer folks? Were you really able to understand?

Alright. I assume that you all are slowing getting familiarised. But any question, do drop me an email / comment. And I shall get back to you at the earliest (if I know the answer).

In continuation with what we learnt last, I am going to explain about the next pillar of exposure - Shutter Speed. The very name doesn't need any detailed explanation, because all of us know what shutter speed is. If you're not sure - Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open and exposed to light. If Aperture is for the controlling the amount of light, shutter speed is for controlling the time required for light to expose.

Easy things first. Every camera has shutter speed. The shutter speed will be fixed in basic point and shoot cameras, while they can be changed in SLRs.

Ok..now the question comes to your mind is why should one use a shutter speed? Different kind of shutter speed will produce different effects on the photography. By adjusting the shutter speed, one can control the subject's movements - for instance lets say, subject is flowing water.

A fast shutter speed will freeze the flowing water while a slow shutter speed will make the water look blurred (since the subject is moving). If you want both movement and blur, you might need to use the flash. And these shutter speeds provide different effects in day and night time. That is fast shutter in day and that in night will give 2 completely different effects.

Like how apertures are measured by f-stops, shutter speeds are measured by seconds or fraction of seconds (in most cases). The larger the denominator, the faster the shutter speed is. For eg: 1/1000 is faster than 1/30. And 1/60 is the normal speed we use in our cameras. If the speed is more than 1/60, it is still easy to take photographs. But if its reduced to anything less than 1/60,the photos get shaky. You might be sometimes wondering why the photo is blurred (especially when you try taking night shots). The reason is this. If it reduces below 1/60, you need a tripod or some means to stabilize the image. Hand held does not work unless you are a pro!

Let me try explaining these concepts by using illustrations from my archives.

This is captured with high shutter speed - 1/500 sec. In this, you can see the actual water movement being captured.

The same subject is captured with a slow shutter speed in this picture - 1/4 sec

You see the difference between these 2 pictures? Hope this gives you some heads up to start working on shutter speed. Try them out. I will write more in next gyan.

For previous related posts, click Gyan 1, Gyan 2 and Gyan 3.

Wordless Wednesday - 2

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Ten on Tuesday - 7

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:30:00 +0000

10 on tuesday's special - My faourite 10 songs from 2011 (English all genres)

Last year has been a great year to music - whatever be the language! Particularly in English, there's been beautiful numbers scored
that just completely hooked me! I got addicted and obsessed to some of these songs! Some songs just took me back to somewhere enjoying my solitude,while others kindled me to stand up and tap foot!

There goes the 10 favourite songs from 2011 - Although they are not in any particular order! I can't go through the stress of deciding which is the top most favourite song! Oh please!

On the Floor - J Lopez ft Pitbull
To me, JLO is a music goddess! Such a gifted voice she has. And let alone her dancing and elegance and at par sexy moves! She dances like a total party animal in the song! And that jet fast lyrics by Pitbull!!

Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO
A true anthem to the party goers! This is one of that songs that makes you tap foot!

We found Love - Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris
Comparing with Rihanna's previous songs, this is nothing. It's catchy or rather Rihanna tried to make it look catchy by uttering those hook lines "we found love in a hopeless place" a million times in the song! But that worked out for doped duo!

Born this way and I'm on the edge - Lady Gaga
There's nothing that can stop Gaga and her imagination! I like "Born this Way" song for its lyrics and the message the song carries! But I've always found Gaga trying to imitate Madonna a lot! Do you agree?

Rolling in the deep - Adele
Adele's soul stirring and authoritative vocals, the feel of the song, thumping background and those lyrics are at its best in this song! I started liking this song lately, but now it's one of the songs that I listen atleast once everyday!

The one that got away and TGIF and ET - Katy Perry
The one that got away is a soft romantic song with tragic video (be it the actual video or seeing KPerry with poor aging make up). But that apart I like this song! And TGIF and ET had already hit everyone's house - so needs no explanation.

Give me everything - Pitbull Feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer
This is a great year for Pitbull. All his songs have hit billboard 100. His quick rhymy lyrics moulds well into the song.

Mr.Saxobeat - Alexandra Stan
A high tempo Euro dance song will never fail to strike chord with your music taste! And this is such perfect example. And Alexandra's voice is so catchy.

Without You - David Guetta Feat. Usher
Guetta uses Usher really well in this song. Not anything unusual about the song, but feels good to listen.

Super Bass - Nicki Minaj and Charlene Soraia's Wherever you go
I had to bring 2 songs here, just did not want to miss one for another.
That's the only song I've heard of Nicki. But it's very appealing. Her super rapid rap, kind of electronic feel in the song and the chorus is what made me like this song. And Charlene Soraia is a great find. This song Wherever you go was used for Twilings tea ad in UK. Such mesmerizing soothing song!

And as you see, this year's top albums are from women power! Clear winners!

The magic continues!

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:30:00 +0000

20 years before there was this wonderful movie taken, and then came to limelight this Music God! Are you are still wondering who or what it is?? Roja is that mesmerizing movie! If Sachin is for Cricket, who else can it be for music other than ARR??

The movie released in 1992. After 20 years, this still stands out to be the best movie I've ever seen in the last 2 decades. I was probably in my 5th or 6th standard then, and Roja was the first audio casette that I asked my father to buy me! And that's probably the first audio that I listened so many times since then. And the songs "Roja Jaaneman (Kadhal Rojave) and Ye Haseen Vadiyaan (Pudhu Vellai Mazhai) still top my favourite song list. Even after hearing 1000's and 1000's of music from all genres/ languages, these 2 are the most soul stirring songs till date (according to me)!

Oats Dosa

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:39:00 +0000

I tried out Oats Dosa yesterday and it came out really well. It's pretty simple to do, and doesn't take a lot of time at all. Plus, it's healthy.
Ingredients Required:
Oats - 1 cup
Semolina - 1/4 cup
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 1 (finely chopped)
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Preparation time: 10-15 minutes

Method:
1. Dry roast oats for few minutes (until you see a slight color change in oats)
2. Add Semolina and Rice flour to the roasted oats, and grind them to powder. If you wish, you can add water and make them as batter.
3. Make the paste / powder that you blended into a batter.
4. Add salt, cumin and green chillies. You can add onions if you like.
5. Mix the contents well and make it a thin batter (like the rava dosa batter)
6. Now, making dosa with this thin batter is a bit difficult and different. If you know how to make rava dosa, use the same method.
7. In a hot dosa tawa, pour one laddle of batter from outside to inside, and fill up open spaces.
8. Pour a tsp of oil on the corners of dosa. Allow it to cook. Flip the other side for few minutes.
And the oats dosa is ready.

Note: Instead of dry roasting oats, you can simply mix all the above said ingredients and set them aside for about 10-15 minutes and then make your dosa. Both the results end in a finger licking healthy dosa!

When I tried this, I was so eager to taste them, and completely forgot to take pictures. So bear with a recipe without photo! And these dosas can be enjoyed over breakfast or dinner. Compliment it with chutney / sambar or simply yogurt.

Photography Gyan # 3

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Many of them say Photography is art! It's true, but it's not just art. To me, it is a combination of science and art! You need both of these elements to take a good photograph. Without any delay, here we go!

The most essential principle in Photography is Exposure - the amount of LIGHT that hits the lens to form a picture. If there's too much of light it will wash out the picture, similarly less light will black out them. So, it's obvious we need to have the right lighting! How do we control this lighting???

Exposure is controlled jointly by 3 pillars - Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO - Each of which determines how much light should a picture have. 3 pillars of photography cannot be explained in 1 single post at all - they are the essence; they are everything. Just to give you a heads up on all these concepts, I'm ATTEMPTING to give you a rough idea about all these.

Aperture is an opening / hole/ gap - a space in the lens through which the light passes and hits the sensor.

The larger the hole - increase in aperture ---> more lights gets in (more exposure)

The smaller the hole - less aperture ---> less light (less exposure)

These apertures are measured in f-stops. Look at the below diagram to know examples of aperture count. If you read the picture, you will definitely be confused. It's not just you - but every other photographer who tries to understand aperture in the first place. Large apertures are given small f/stop numbers, while the smaller apertures have large f/stop numbers?? Confused???

f/1.4 is the largest aperture than f/16 or f/22. You'll get the hang of it! Don't worry!

image courtesy: google

If you can master aperture, you have a creative control on your camera! Aperture can be controlled/changed in DSLR camera only. If you are wondering how to change the aperture numbers, refer the user manual. And the best way to get your head around aperture is by experimenting them. Use different f/stops (without changing any other features) and see the result.

I know this isn't interesting or easy to learn. But you are interested in photography, you have to swim through this. So, I will not complicate your learning process by explaining the next pillar right away. Try this out and share your experience here.

The day that went

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:18:00 +0000

I know you all are already getting freaked out with my daily posts, but thanks for supporting me in this journey by reading these never so ending nonsense.

Albeit it being Friday, my day hasn't been that great. It's a bit of work pressure, dragging and boring. On top of that I was feeling so sleepy.

Yesterday I uploaded this picture in flickr and thought it was completely meant for this friday. And I completely feel positive about it!! A day should have its little nice things here and there. And its weekend.

And I can get extra hours of sleep tomorrow. Can't wait for that. I think I am kind of rambling over lying on my bed with my half eyes closed. And eventually this is my first post typed from my phone. Thanks to S!!

Yawn yawn!!! I am going now. Good night or have a good day or whatever!!

Thursday Challenge - TOYS

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:45:00 +0000

Look at the way that stuffy thing is eyeing me! He he!
This week's TC is TOYS - as in Stuffed animals, sports equipment, dolls, video games, Board games, Lego! I went through my archives and found only this one suitable. What a shame. Then I realised that I've never pictured any board games, lego or sport equipments! Will target them sometime soon.

For now, enjoy this stuffed bear. He hasn't stopped his staring yet!

Wordless Wednesday - 1

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:49:00 +0000

Photography Gyan # 2

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Today has been a long disgusting, stressful day at work. Did not really bother to write down. But I don't want to give up - definitely not at this early stage of my project. What - I've just written for a full 10 days now!

While juggling over 10 other things of what to write today, I simply picked up writing about Photography Gyan. After the Gyan # 1 I saw a good response from you all, and it's really motivating to share the experiences!! Thanks for being that driving force!

Gyan # 2: Be Bold and don't be afraid to experiment:
There are 2 aspects to being bold and experimenting. Boldness in using camera features and taking photos in a public area!

Go crazy. Do not hold back thinking "what if I press some wrong button on the camera" There's no right or wrong button in camera, except deleting. So go and fire shots, try out all the modes that's available in your camera. If you are using a simple point and shoot, it will have modes like programme, auto, ISO, nightmode, landscape, portrait - Am I right? Choose a location or an object as your "SUBJECT". Take the same subject in different modes and see what's the difference. Remember - The more you exploit your camera, the more you explore! Similarly change the flash settings, aperture, shutter speed settings and try them out. Learn by yourself. It is so much fun!

The same boldness is required when you are shooting in public places. If you think you want to take a picture by sitting, tilting your head, bending ,or even by laying on the ground - just do it! Don't be afraid or don't let "what-others-think-of-you-syndrome" enter your head! You will be surprised to see the weird angle you've tried will be watched over and will be tried by them as well! Initially I used to worry about this. But slowly I came over, and I don't even care about who is watching me! Check out this!

picture courtesy: http://www.istockphoto.com

So, go ahead and have fun taking lots of pictures, and update me how many you took, how you took them!

I also hope you had enough time by now to go through the basic science of photography, which I will go through in my Gyan # 3.

Shoo away the Monday moods

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Warning: Here again! I hate saying monday blues! Coz I love blue in any form - blue skies, blue water, and R&B (rhythm and blues genre of music) and the boy band BLUE and blue eyes! So the word "Monday morning blues" is strictly prohibited here!!

Give me an answer. No cheating - okay? How many of you like Mondays? Monday mornings are Monday mourning!

Personally I never like! But that's now. While I was in school and college, I would be yearning for Mondays to come – to meet with friends, and have fun! And after I started working, Mondays were always nightmares - meetings, planning, preparations, more meetings, targets..uff! Over years, I’ve tried to work out different strategies to turn these Monday mourning into beautiful ones.

There is a simple strategy – Keep your favourite activity on Monday! Believe me it will work!

Here’s a list of activities that you can do on Mondays, if you like them (not all, just pick up a couple of them)

· Go on a shopping spree (treat yourself – not expensive though!)

· Pamper yourself on ayurvedic or beauty massage.

· Swimming / Dancing / Gym

· Schedule yourself to speak with your best friend

· Order the dinner from outside (unless you love cooking!)

· Keep a favourite TV program that's telecasted only on mondays

· Play with your partner – I mean (you dirty!!) – Either ludo or scrabble!

· Revisit your hobby, join the classes.

Or anything that comes to your mind! The idea is that it should be your favourite activity or something you really enjoy doing and look forward to! If your do them on regular Mondays, your mind will be conditioned to accept Mondays as just another day! Ofcourse we can’t be so excited for Mondays (having to go to work!), but it atleast lessens the burden, and help you to stay positive over the week! You can even plan your holiday or sick leave on mondays ;)

Like we have do’s there are also certain don’ts to keep up with feeling positive on Mondays.

· Do not do home or grocery shopping on Mondays

· Do not do any task because you don’t have time to do them on any other day!

· Do not keep any house related works like laundry, washing, cleaning, mopping etc.

· Do not visit relatives or family members (like parents or in-laws, if you are not living with them). You’d have just met them on weekend right?

· Do not indulge in small talks with neighbours. Just close the doors!

· No to vegetablewala, isthri, pookari, and all.

They’ve worked out to some extent for me – but I have no idea if this works out to every other person. Because our commitments and daily lifestyles are different. I have a friend who is a new mum. She says that time runs so fast that she does not even know if it’s a Sunday or Monday. True! But the underlying point is do the things that will help you stay positive throughout the week!

Today's Special :)

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Hope you all had a great Pongal / Sankranthi! As I said yesterday, it was a silent day, but S got a bit better. Glad!
Today I did not manage to get up early, so everything turned out to be messy and happened a bit late. But that said, I did cook all that I had in mind. S thoroughly enjoyed them!
Here's a quick catch of what I did :)

That's sweet pongal, salt pongal, vada and tomato chutney!

Randoms on Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Saturday just flew by at the wink of the eye! I wanted to write something else, but could not manage them. Wanted to do shopping today as tomorrow is Pongal. But nothing happened. S is not keeping very well, so had to be a nice wify to take care of him. Prepared pepper and cumin Rasam to keep his throat soothing. Just sat next to him and we were going through the recent photo albums. Saw 2 movies in the TV. And now the time is already 10.45pm. I had to get up a bit early to prepare Ven Pongal (boiled rice and moong dhal seasoned with pepper,cashew and salt) and Chakkara Pongal (rice and dhal boiled along with Jaggery). So, I sign off now and let you listen to this melody.

I'm currently ~~addicted~~ listening to this lovely song from a tamil movie. It's totally romantic and soothing! Here's the link to hear the song, if you are interested.

Vizhigalil Oru Vaanavil by Deiva

Photography Gyan # 1

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

I was looking at writing tips on Bokeh photography, but it sounded a bit complicated to explain. So thought that it's better to start with simple basic rules as they are really important to understand photography!

To all my friends who take photos everyday, here's a question to you. Have you completely understood the meaning of Exposure, Aperture, ISO, Shutter Speed etc? These are the most fundamental aspects of photography.

To me they were Greek and Latin until I got my SLR. And I did not listen or study Physics properly during my school days...ha! But when SLR threw me with so many challenges, I decided to learn them then. Sometimes we think why do we need to know the science of photography and features of your camera. It is as important as you want to learn to take better photos. The more you understand your camera and concepts of photography, the better you will get.

While I had point and shoot (SONY), I would just take pictures..1000s of them in different angles without even knowing what I was doing. The outcome was that out of 100 pictures 10 would be good. Then I explored the point and shoot's features without understanding their meaning. But I got there, not 100%. Sometimes I wonder why I couldn't get what I am expecting. I had no answer. But now I have. Because I understood the science behind it!

If you want to hit it right with the same outcome you are expecting, it is best to master the concepts!

What better source to understand these. Go to Wikipedia!
You can take amazing photos in any camera - be it in mobile, point and shoot, analog or digital! A bit of technicality, a bit of aesthetic and some creativity is all you need to get your dream capture!

I will share some of the learnings that I had while travelling in this journey. If you have better ideas, please do share them with me, my quench to learn photography is never ending!

Today's learning point: Take a camera wherever you go:-

Make this a practice and you will see for yourself the change. A few days back I did not take my camera, and it happened to be a full moon day. I saw the fully bloomed, bright moon that day, but could not capture her! I regret so much! Trust me, if you don't take your camera, you might be missing your million dollar picture!

Thursday Challenge - BEST OF 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:40:00 +0000

This week's Thursday Challenge is Best or Favourite picture of 2011. I should say that 2011 has been a photographic year for me! I started exploring my Nikon in a great depth, took some great pictures (can't deny that myself, coz I can't be modest here).

But when it comes to choosing best or favourite is not a good idea! To me everything is best and close to my heart. So I've used Flickr to quantify my pictures in 2011.

According to flickr, this is the favourite and most viewed picture in my photostream.

No wonder why it can't be a favourite. This is Eilean Donan Castle, and for me to take this unusual perspective, I had to trek the mountain and run behind the bushes! Guess that paid off :)

And with regards to my favorite photos, I'm anyways sharing them as and when I write posts!

Do you like Chocolates?

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:05:00 +0000

I do! I can live with them, infact!! Here are some of the mouth watering, finger licking chocolates for you! I found these artistic ones in Belgium which is a heaven for chocolates.

This was christmas special!

I particularly liked the way the've put the tag as scarf! Ain't that cute?

The expressive ducks with snow hats

Mr.Chocolate - - All eagerly popping his eyes out when he meets his girl ;)

And sweet and cute Ms.Chocolate blushes away :)

Have you enjoyed your share??

Know about Project 365!

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:56:00 +0000

I decided to take up Project 365..oops it's actually 366 this year! All I knew about this project is that you need to take a photo a day and post it online for throughout the year. I've amended this rule to suit my requirements. I realised that I need to write a lot frequently this year, so why not implement Project 366 in blogging? Write one topic a day! I knew this is going to be exhaustive, not just for me, but for the readers as well. Isn't there a quote not to quit before even trying? So I am jumping into this project. I have already started the project on 7th January and writing for the 3 days (without any block!!). Still not started with Flickr. Of course I upload pictures everyday, but I am not able to take them on daily basis, coz it gets dark quickly and I am not able to spend time on photography everyday. I will start this soon though.

This project is a good start for those who are interested in photography in particular. It makes you committed to take photo everyday.

Some of the simple tips to help you complete your Project 366:-

1. Keep your pictures simple. Remember simple is beautiful!

2. Take the photo that's part of your daily life (like food, coffee, corners of your house, books, any activity that you're doing), that way you can have a chronological photo-log of a year!

3. Just take a picture that you wanted to take, leave out its perfection, lighting, focus etc until you get comfortable.

4. Keep weekly themes if that will help you to focus and observe for the right picture.

5. Take your camera everywhere, literally.

6. Do not shy away if you find a suitable picture in the street. just go for it.

7. Once you are into the project, explore different photography options like macro, black and white, night shots and play around with them.

8. Don't forget to post them in your online journal - like flickr, blog or facebook.

Are you ready for this challenge?

PS: With this photo challenge, I will not have a difficulty in blogging everyday. If anyday I'm out of topic or bored to write, I can simply put the pictures :) ha ha

Some eye spoilers!

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:46:00 +0000

I'm getting addicted to what is called as Bokeh.

Wikipedia defines Bokeh as blur, or aesthetic quality of blur or out of focus areas of the image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light. Whatever Wiki says, this is the most beautiful thing I've learnt in photography till date.

There are day light and night light bokeh. Albeit both being beautiful to eyes, I am obsessed with the night bokeh! The colors and lights are uber attractive to me, that I took my camera and hunted for just bokeh shots one whole night. And what better day than christmas eve, when the whole world is decorated with colorful lights!

These bokeh could be eye spoilers, could cause head ache, vision blur or illusion to anyone's eyes. For that's how they look. Check it out for yourself, but caution - go through each one of these pictures slowly.

My first try on creating intentional bokeh started only after getting my Nikon Chitti at my house during Christmas season. That's the small Christmas tree I had.

To bring bokeh to perfection especially in the night shot, it took me almost 5 months after regular experimentation. This is one of those great shots I had with focus on polo and bokeh being created on the traffic signal and car lights.

And came christmas, I would always take my camera everywhere I go, to make sure I try out night bokeh shots. This is one such crazy shot.

These are the Christmas lights on the tree on either sides that face London eye.

Strings of bokeh that's currently beautifying my header :)

taken in a street decorated with Christmas bells and stars and other lights.

Taken at the ice skating ring.

A simple christmas tree

Cute snow bear decorated with lights inside a shopping mall.

decorations in a random street.

Trust me, you would definitely feel like visiting an Optometrist for a thorough eye check up ;) lol

A day in Ilford

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Ilford is a large town in London. Apart from this all I know about Ilford is that it has lot of asian community, 2 temples, and lots of indian restaurants around (south indian to be precise). There are lots of B&B and Guest houses run by asians and the price is very competitive. They are close to supesermarkets, banks, shopping centres, rail and other transport facilities. When you have a desi feel in a videsh, what else would you ask for. This was the first time I had been to Ilford, and I was totally in love with this place. It's totally Indian! People walking in salwars and sarees, speaking the most familiar languages/slangs. I felt like home!

If ever I get a chance to go back to London again, I would simply go to Ilford. Now you may wonder, why I am talking all praise about Ilford. Let me tell you what it has, what it offers!

There are 2 temples that opens from morning 7.00 - 2.00pm and 5.00 till 9.00pm. The priests perform all the puja, recite slokas and mantras. They have all the top gods and goddesses statues inside!There are plenty of Indian stores in and around East Ham and Ilford - selling bindis, kitchenwares, sarees, salwars, gold jewels, vegetables et al. They also have ICICI and Punjab National banks here.

And then there's Saravana Bhavan, Vasantha Bhavan, Dosa Corner (famous south indian restaurants) and couple other infamous restaurants there. Now tell me doesn't it sound like a known town in our country? Who would feel home sick here!

That's the Murugan Temple entrance and the gopuram.

This temple is located between Ilford and East ham. It was a sunday morning, and all the Sannidhi's (Ganesh, Shiva and Murugan) were having abhishekam (offering god with milk, curd, rosewater,sandal paste etc) one after the other. There's also navagraham, dakshinamoorthy, vishnu, hanuman, durga deities.

By the time the abhishekams got over, the time was already 1.00pm. We strolled our way to Saravana Bhavan in East Ham without knowing there's one in Ilford itself. We ordered unlimited meals for lunch. The menu is not expensive. We binged on the dhal, sambar, rasam, kootu, poriyal, appalam and payasam stuff until our stomachs were full.

We walked back to Ilford shopping centre, which was wonderfully decorated for Christmas and had all top branded shops inside. We strolled into these shops for sometime. There's also a Cineworld complex in the Ilford centre, 10 minute walking distance from Ilford Railway Station. We made our way to Cineworld. Having the Ciniworld unlimited card is a boon, we can peep into the theatre anytime without having to pay anything and watch as many movies.

We settled down for Don 2. The movie was gripping and action packed taking you tour to Zurich, Berlin and other exotic locations. After this movie, we sat at the lounge looking for other movie options, and decided to watch Sherlock Holmes - Game of Shadows. If you are Holmes fan, you should watch this movie. It's totally gripping, fast moving, action packed! Although there was more action (which is rather unusual in books) but are visually appealing. The train scene and the climax were the best! I did not like the portrayal of Prof.Montiery. The sure show stealer is Holmes with his enigmatic looks, talks and the style.

After knowing from the localite that here's a saravana bhavan in Ilford, we hunted for this hotel and had our dinner here. Soon we realised that this hotel is pretty close to where we stayed. What a bliss to have hot idly and dosa for dinner. And so our day ended happily. I felt like being in India.

Yesterday and Today

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:23:00 +0000

Life changes so fast, and how often do we take notice of these changes and appreciate them?

Bygone year

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:24:00 +0000

The year that went had been a superfast rollercoaster ride isn't it! It feels like 2011 just now started, but we already welcomed 2012 with a beaming smile. The year 2011 had been such a memorable year for me - had some accomplishments, bad times, did some silly things, made great friends..

I made zilch resolutions after this year. If something needs to change, it can happen anytime. Why wait till the start of a year! Am I right?

The first half of the year was just mystical. There was this doubtful, uncertain moment all the time because of restructuring in my organisation and how I got through them. Remaining year was full of celebrations, travelling, driving et cetera.

I haven't been blogging very frequently this year, and the total posts are much lesser than last year's. But my photographic skills enhanced and I made some great captures this year!

Did I ever tell you that I went on a diet! Phew! I never dreamt that I would go on a diet in my life. I followed GM Diet for 1 week, and reduced some 3 kgs (but gained them back 3 weeks later by eating loads of pizza, cheese, biriyani). I never thought I would be able to survive on mere fruits and veggies for 1 whole week! Kudos to me despite the torture S gave me by tempting me with maa vadu (mango pickle), thayir sadham (curd rice) and my favourite foods :(

I have 6 posts sitting in my draft ready to be published, god knows when! Sweet procrastination, you see!

I took up a challenge of reading 100 books in 2011, and to my dismay, I managed to complete only 12 books! What a disgrace! Come what may, I am challenging myself to improve this scenario.

And this year ended with some amazing travel!

I have 400 unread posts in my google reader, so you do understand how busy I could get to read and pour my comments?

Ah! And note, I am starting my Project 365 – both in flickr and blog! Which means I will be logging in every day, and write something in the blog! Watch out! This space is going to get a bit filthy ;)

Before I end, here’s wishing you a year full of fun and frolic! Happy New Year folks!!

Isle of Arran - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:36:00 +0000

I know it's been like what 2 months since I wrote Isle of Arran-Part 1 travelogue! It isn't wise if I left it unfinished.

So without discussing my hibernation, I dive into the travel post. Next day was fantastic in terms of the weather. Arran does have good roads and public transport, but it's much easier if you have your own transport.

But the buses do the round trip around Arran which is a biggest advantage if you depend on public transport. There are north bound and south bound round trips from Brodick. Each of these round trips takes you around 60 minutes going through the most narrow roads, though ups and downs of the valley, giving you the best scenic drive.

Lochranza, situated on the north has 2nd largest settlement and ferry terminal in Arran. The bay along with the ruined Lochranza castle is a postcard perfect scene not to be missed while you are at Arran.

Ruined 16th century castle and the dried up lake in Lochranza village. Apparently, Lochranza is said to have the least hours of sunshine of any village in UK since it lies in a north facing valley on an island.

Total population in this village is about 200.

We left Lochranza after spending sometime walking around the village to the south side of Arran, Kildonan. Someone in Arran told that we could spot seals sitting in the shores very often.

View from a restaurant in Kildonan where we had our lunch.

2 separate isles and the tiny lighthouse is a treat to eyes. There are private boat hires to go to the lighthouse. We strolled along the shore for as long as we could spot a seal. Fortunate for the nice sunny weather the walk was pleasant. As we realised that there's no seal around, we decided to climb up the steps to catch our bus.

Cute little place as we walked for another 30 minutes along the road to take the bus.

View of Lamlash bay, our next destination. This is the largest village by population in the whole of Arran. And this is where Local government offices and police quarters is located.

That's the Holy Island overlooking lamlash bay. We were appalled by the beauty of this bay and the Holy Island that was standing in the centre of the sea. This island is home to a community of Buddist Monks. There are charted 10 minute boat trips to the island.

As we adored the beauty of this bay, we missed our last bus to go back to Brodick. From the map, we thought Brodick is just 2 miles away and started to walk towards a direction. It started to get dark, and both of us were the only souls walking on a busy highway with not even a torch or street lamp. I cursed myself for my over obsessive camera stuff as we tried to walk much faster. We even tried to stop the cars for lift, but none were offered to us :(

Luckily a car stopped as I waved my hands. I was so happy that someone has stopped. When the car came to a halt, I realised it was Police patrol car. There was a smart guy in the driver seat who offered us a lift! He told that he was patrolling his way from Lamlash to Brodick. After 15 minutes, he dropped us at the Brodick Harbour and waved bye to us. That was such a relief to me and S!

That night we went to Arran on the Plate, a local restaurant in Brodick. After a nice traditional vegetarian food, we left to our B&B.

Diwali from Chennai

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:02:00 +0000

So much of plan and anticipation on this day is finally completed. After a long flight journey and continuous jet lag, we went on shopping spree for purchasing diwali clothes.

The weather in Chennai was awesome, much to my surprise, until yesterday. It was so cool and for sometime I felt like being in Ooty. But today, it was back to normal!

Hope you all had a fabulous Diwali! Will write back soon...

Isle of Arran - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:51:00 +0000

Its been ages since I wrote a travel post. Hence picked up the recent most travel experience of drooling over a pretty island. For a small island like Arran, I thought 3 days is a long time, but it wasn't nearly enough time, especially if the weather is good.

Isle of Arran is located on the south western part of Scotland. It took us 2 hours from Edinburgh by train travel to reach Ardrossan, a harbour from where we had to take the ferry. For gods sake, to me it wasn't a ferry. It looked as big as a cruise ship (one like titanic!!..Ok..that's a bit too much..but it looked like that...see for yourself in the pic). The ship had a coffee shop, restaurant and a little souvenir shop inside the ferry. We enjoyed our 50 minute travel in the ferry that took us to Brodick. This is a big village in the whole island with majority settlement and as a principal point of entry into the island.

It was raining on and off all day and we decided just to walk around Brodick. We went through along this lovely stretch, entered through the golf court. This was about 2 mile walking and the place was absolutely stunning.

We saw rainbow quite a number of times throughout our walk playing hide and seek. Here's some pictures of rainbows..

and rainbow with their reflections...

We spent some more time around the place lazing around, sitting and chatting along the shores enjoying the weather, sea, rainbow all that were overlooking the largest mountain of Arran - Goatfell (picture below).

After lazing around, we left to our beautiful B&B that is located on top of a little hill overlooking the sea and mountains.

And that's the view from our room that overlooks sea. It was so pretty to see the sea early in the morning during sunrise. And it's a lovely feeling to wake up to watch sea and mountain rather than buildings and traffic.

Brodick is a nice little village to relax and have a laid back life. There are shops around Brodick but not that very many restaurants - just a few of them. But the fact is...there are more B&Bs in Arran than anywhere!

My first publication!

noreply@blogger.com (Vaish) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 21:23:00 +0000

No...not a written publication. Not near to that though!

One of my photo is published in a website. The owner of the website has started a spiritual retreat centre in Scotland and when she approached me to use my picture in their URL, I was so happy. I said YES right away.

You can visit the picture here!!